Red Light Cameras

If red-light cameras are outlawed this year, the communities raking in the dollars from the cameras have only themselves to blame. What started as a well-intentioned plan to encourage safe driving has morphed into a ruthless industry fueled by profits. How else can you explain a red-light camera near the entrance of a hospital? The people in Tamarac, just northwest of Fort Lauderdale, are getting smacked with fines for running lights as they turn into the emergency room. You can't tell me that's about safety.

February 2013: This column warned that Clermont's plan to install red-light cameras was a bad one and speculated that the reason for doing so was to collect money, not make the streets safer. It said, in part, "The deal Clermont struck with a private company to install and maintain the cameras is financially lousy for the city. It certainly will make a tidy fortune for the company, American Traffic Solutions, from Arizona. " But three of City Council members - Ray Goodgame, Rick VanWagner and Tim Bates - continued to claim that their only reason for installing these invasive cameras was to improve safety.

LONGWOOD -- Longwood commissioners on Monday supported installing red-light cameras in the city, but motorists probably won't start receiving citations until January. The city won't spend any money on the project because the company that installs the cameras will recoup a portion of the fines collected. Longwood is reviewing proposals from three companies and studying which two intersections would benefit the most from the cameras. Once the cameras are installed, motorists will get courtesy notices during a six-month grace period.

The Florida Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Orlando and other cities did not have the authority to set up an automated camera system to catch red-light runners and ticket them. The ruling effects only the city's ticket camera program between Sept. 1, 2008 and July 1, 2010, when Orlando operated ticket cameras without specific authorization from the state. That means Orlando may refund the $125 fines paid by ticketed people - but only to a small number of them. Most of the nearly 50,000 people cited by the city before July 2010 may never get their money back, even though the court decided the program was illegal.

SANFORD — City commissioners gave their initial approval to install red-light cameras this week, though details such as the location of cameras, the amount of fines and the start of enforcement have not yet been worked out. A final vote will be later this month. Seminole County commissioners also discussed red-light cameras this week but decided to hold off considering them because a bill that would regulate the cameras is pending in the Legislature. Rachael Jackson

Safety snapshots In 2010, state lawmakers finally uncorked the political will that had been bottled up for nearly eight years and approved statewide use of red-light cameras. Yet, not even a year later, the life-saving devices idle at another legislative crossroads. Sen. Rene Garcia has proposed a reckless U-turn on red-light cameras. His repeal bill, by recent indications, appears headed for a merciful death in committee. Not that we're cheering just yet. Given this session's intrigues, we'd be naïve to trust its death in committee will ultimately prove a bona fide stake in the heart of a life-threatening bill.

Local governments should stop using red-light cameras, and the state Legislature should not legalize their use. The use of red-light cameras by local governments is clearly illegal. Two opinions by the Florida attorney general emphatically make this point, and a judge in South Florida recently issued a summary judgment to that effect. But even if made legal, red-light-camera systems do not improve safety; they impose a tax on large numbers of responsible but imperfect citizens; and they have almost zero accountability.

Florida's roads are so rife with aggressive driving that it's getting tougher to distinguish Sunshine State motorists from the lunatics that Mel Gibson confronted in the "Road Warrior. " A recent Orlando Sentinel report found that, since 2003, aggressive-driving tickets have exploded from 3,815 to 23,180. The state defines aggressive driving as concurrently committing two specific violations such as improperly changing lanes, improperly passing and failing to yield the right of way, speeding or tailgating.

On Tuesday, Orange County officials issued red-light scofflaws notice. Over the next two years, another 80 of the recording devices could be playing watchmen on state roads crisscrossing the county. The snag? While the county rightly wants to expand its inventory of the lifesaving gadgets, County Mayor Teresa Jacobs understandably isn't married to the notion of shelling out thousands for them given their cloudy future. During this year's legislative session, House members voted to rescind the law they'd approved the prior year that allowed the cameras on state roads.

If a columnist writes about abortion, a response through the roof is guaranteed. But red-light cameras? Who knew you cared so much? It turns out that Lake County residents have passionate feelings about red-light cameras, those devices that take video of motorists going through certain intersections in defiance of red lights or failing to come to a full stop at a red light before making a right turn. A column last week derided Clermont City Council members for deciding to install 24 cameras at various intersections, mostly big ones along State Road 50 and U.S. Highway 27. The number of cameras is only one short of those used by Orlando, which is a far bigger place.

Like coral bells and other spring perennials, the crusade to retire red-light cameras bloomed again this past legislative session. However, the movement dried up at the roots, despite a report from the state Office of Program Policy Analysis & Government Accountability that found crashes were up 12 percent at the 230 intersections on state roads monitored by the devices. Not that local opposition to the Mark Wandall Traffic Safety Act of 2010, the state's red-light camera law, has withered away.

To the person ticked off at golfers peeing in the trees: Try holding your pee in, in 90 degrees weather and not get diarrhea. It ticks me off when people improperly title their relatives. Your cousin's children are not your nieces and nephews. They are your cousins once removed, etc. If you can't remember this, then say "my cousin's son" etc. Simple enough! I'm very ticked off at the family of three who live in the apartment above me because they often talk loudly and drop things on their floor!

Why doesn't Duke Energy clear the rights of way of the big power lines? This would make an excellent fire break. If you support the Constitution; lower taxes; smaller, less intrusive government; traditional marriage; pro-life; and religious freedom, you are labeled as a radical right-wing enemy of the state. If your vote can be bought for a $25 reduction in car-license fees, you are probably a charter member of the I, I, Me, Me club. I expected Gov. Rick Scott to lambast Charlie Crist in an attack ad. Instead, Scott points out the best reasons we should vote for Crist.

Wait just a second here. That's the message state transportation engineers sent to Apopka city leaders, who on Wednesday lengthened by one second the duration of yellow lights at all 10 intersections monitored by red-light cameras. The state wants that one second restored immediately, or proof that longer lights are justified. And Apopka's response? Don't count on it. Chuck Vavrek, a former Apopka police chief and manager of Apopka Stops On Red, the city's red-light safety program, said the city consulted its attorney, Frank Kruppenbacher, and has refused the state's request.

Apopka will lengthen by one second the yellow lights at intersections monitored by red-light cameras. The city already had yellow lights that were longer than required by state rules, but city officials have agreed to add an extra second at photo-enforced intersections partly to quiet critics of Apopka's program, which has been Central Florida's leader in red-light revenue since 2007. Henry Bentley, co-founder of Apopka-based Ban the Cams, predicted longer yellows will reduce crashes - and ticket revenue.

Apopka, Central Florida's leader in ticket revenue from red-light cameras, may soon re-evaluate its use of the controversial devices. Commissioner Bill Arrowsmith, who has supported red-light cameras to improve public safety, proposed Wednesday that the city consider a temporary moratorium or poll its citizens as public opposition to red-light cameras mounts and the Legislature weighs bills to ban them. "I'm just wondering maybe we should be a little more proactive," Arrowsmith said, suggesting a straw poll to get direction from citizens.

TALLAHASSEE — Florida's accelerating use of red-light cameras to ticket drivers is fueling a war in the Capitol this spring as lawmakers consider whether to apply the brakes to the controversial law-enforcement tactic. At the heart of the fight: Are red-light cameras making roads safer or more dangerous? A study by the Legislature's policy analysis office determined that across the state, crashes had increased 12 percent at intersections with cameras. But the report also said fatalities at the 230 camera-equipped intersections on state roads went down 49 percent.